OVERWHELMING FORGIVENESS
A wonderful example of how to practice the lifestyle of grace comes from an incident in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on October 2, 2006, when a man entered an Amish schoolhouse and murdered 5 girls while wounding 5 others before killing himself. As horrific as this was, the greater story was the response of the Amish people in expressing their love and forgiveness to the shooter’s family. Ann Curry of NBC news, wrote: "I realize I did not know what forgiveness was until now."
Perhaps the most telling comments came from the pen of Marie Roberts, the shooter’s widow, in a note to the Amish. "Our family wants each of you to know that we are overwhelmed by the forgiveness, grace and mercy that you’ve extended to us. Your love for our family has helped to provide the healing we so desperately need. Your compassion has reached beyond our family, beyond our community and is changing our world." Isn’t that the goal of the gospel of grace?